As the shaman followed Xiao Long toward Seryntas, he responded to the elf's question about Kilisha.

"Nothing I can do," he grunted. "Sorceress' curse gone, but maybe old curses affecting her. Maybe big shaman knows. See after fight over."

After giving his answer, the shaman turned his attention on Seryntas. Reaching into his robes, the healer produced a small glass vial of red liquid.

"Healing potion," the orc declared, holding out the vial for the human to take. "Drink up."

Kilisha, meanwhile, had gone back to watching the demons panicking under the rain of arrows. The anticipation for the attack upon them was building back up again, pushing the worries she had felt about what was happening to her from her mind.

Somewhere nearby, the last of the demons on the platform fell under an orc's axe. As the orc who wielded that axe let out a howl of triumph, the remaining orcish fighters began charging towards the side of the ledge at once, leaping without a moment's hesitation down the five-foot drop to land upon the demons below.

Losing no time, Kilisha let out a savage snarl as she dove straight down onto an incubus who was unfortunate enough to be waiting directly below her. Bearing the creature to the ground, she tore through its shield and armor, ripped into its flesh with maniacal fervor, then rose from the torn corpse charge after her next victim.

When Xiao Long heard what the orc shaman had told her, her spirits lowered a bit. Then she heard the almost feral roar and turned to see Kilisha hop over the ledge. Concerned for her friend, she drew her double swords and charged off, hopping over the edge as well. As she came upon the edge of the ledge she found a good target and for the incubus. She pointed her swords downwards, hoping to land with enough force to impale the incubus (OOC: Super Smash Bros. Link style.)

Seryntas looked at the small glass vial and down at his gauntleted hand and clucked in annoyance. He sheathed his sword and then fingered a hidden catch and unbuckled two buckles at his wrist. The heavy metal glove slid off his hand, which was revealed to be glistening with sweat and rubbed raw. Now with the ability to handle glass without breaking it, he took the potion and slammed it back like a shot of liquor (which he felt like he needed), followed by a long pull from a canteen hanging off his armor. "Thanks," he said.

"Careful with that," the shaman warned a little too late as Seryntas slammed the potion back.

The potion was full-strength, brewed specifically for combat, meant to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. A few seconds after it was drunk, Seryntas' wounds closed so fast that it actually smarted a bit. The wounds were healed, though, and as an added benefit, the rawness of his skin was healed as well. Unfortunately, his fatigue didn't lessen.

The incubus Xiao Long came down upon never saw her coming. Her swords came down and ran through the demon, killing it before it even knew it was being attacked.

Kilisha, meanwhile, charged head-on at another incubus nearby. Seeing her wild abandon, the demon met her with a heavy slash of its sword, expecting her to dash right into it. But despite the ferocity of her current state, Kilisha defied that logic, dodging right past the sword and ripping into the demon who wielded it.

Nearby, though, an orc took a lethal slash from a succubus' longsword and came staggering back to trip over Kilisha. Luckily, Kilisha didn't lose her balance, so she was ready when the orc's slayer came after her. However, the enemy succubus didn't attempt a heavy attack as the incubus had before, instead forcing Kilisha into retreat with a series of quick jabs.

Seryntas threw some of his canteen water over his face as he felt the welcome sting of the healing. He sucked in air through his teeth and let it out with a sigh. "Good shit. I like the stinging, shows it's working. So now I'm just exhaustin' myself, I'm not bleeding nomore. So where's the next fight, then?" He looked around at the field as he reattached his gauntlet.

(OOC: I was hoping that the thread had become somewhat more undead than it was before. = P)

Xiao Long got up from the dead incubus she'd skewered. "Didn't think that would work," she said, more to herself than to anyone else. She then looked about to find Kilisha busy fighting another demon. She knew that she shouldn't butt in to the fight, though. She wasn't very accustomed to fighting with another person here next to her. Instead, she kept an eye out for any other demons that decided to join the skirmish between her friend and the demon.

(OOC: Maybe the T-Virus will kick in now that exams are over for the moment.)

The shaman gave Seryntas a grin and gestured toward the slaughter in front of the gate. It was already a pretty one-sided battle, but the bounty hunter's help could still be useful. Of course, the drop from the ledge could be problematic, given the armor he was wearing. Luckily, there was also a small staircase along the wall by which the human could descend, though it didn't seem to be receiving much use by the orcs.

Kilisha's opponent continued to push her back for a moment longer, but the feral succubus soon got tired of retreating. Despite the fact that the opposing succubus was keeping her balance perfectly, Kilisha still dashed in to attack and avoided the thrust that had been offered as a deterrent. The enemy, however, still reacted quickly enough to turn herself so that Kilisha's claws only raked their target's shoulder and back. Luckily, Kilisha moved away again before her opponent could return the favor with her sword.

Being a succubus fighting on the side of the orcs, Kilisha would have been prone to attract attention. Sure enough, yet another succubus approached to enter the fray. At first she began to maneuver around behind Kilisha. But then she noticed Xiao Long standing watch and knew that the elf would probably interfere. So, she decided to just go directly for the elf instead. Getting her shield up, she began moving in carefully.

When Xiao Long saw the approaching succubus, she smiled. She lifted her two swords and readied them, then waded in towards the succubus, carefully picking her way towards the succubus's left side. Then she opened her attack, carefully feigning a thrust with her left sword, then swinging her right sword in around the succubus's shield.

Seryntas ran toward the staircase, and preceded to doubletime down the stairs, thoroughly used to his armor. He ran, damaged armor clanking and scraping, toward the battle. He kept his sword held before him defensively as he looked for a likely opponent, wishing the whole while that he was in an unfeeling drunken stupor, receiving a sensual backrub from a large-breasted blond half-elven maiden, rather than preparing to face his umpteenth opponent of the afternoon. This battle gonna end soon? he thought, wearily.

"Tell you what, Leto, I won't fight with you. Zeus' wives are pretty tough customers. You have my permission to boast openly that you have beaten the daylights out of me."-Hermes, the Iliad (Stanley Lombardo, translator) Book 21

Kilisha's opponent, growing tired of her insolence, snarled and came at her with a sudden series of forceful swings and slashes. Kilisha dodged all of these, but as the last slash went over her ducking head, her wings suddenly poofed out of existence and her hands returned to normal. She now looked disoriented and confused, and thus took the hilt of her enemy's sword straight into her stomach, sending her to the floor. Luckily, despite having had the wind knocked out of her, she came out of her disoriented state in time to roll out of the way as the enemy's blade came down for the killing blow. She then scrambled over to the corpse of the incubus she had killed moments earlier, grabbed his sword, and got it up in front of her face just in time to parry the enemy's next slash.

Xiao Long's enemy responded to the elf's feint. Unfortunately, she used her sword to parry instead of her shield, meaning that her shield was still in position to block Xiao Long's true attack. After stopping the Xiao Long's attack, she pushed her shield against the elf with the full force of her body, at the same time thrusting her sword around to stab.

As Seryntas reached the bottom of the staircase, the wall beside him suddenly cracked apart and fell open. From the hallway beyond the wall rushed four of the familiar spiders. Behind those, a warg-riding succubus wielding a lance charged forth.

Meanwhile, the sound of creaking wood and grating metal resounded from the gateway. One of the orcs had reached the opening device and was now turning the wheel to raise the portcullis and part the large doors of the gate.

Xiao Long took the force of the push and moved with it, keeping her feet on the ground and her wits about her. As the stab came down at her, she crossed her two swords into a downwards V shape and pushed the stab down so that it hit the ground rather than any of her soft squishy parts. She then brought her foot through her arms and kicked the demon as hard as she could manage without off-balancing herself. (TM R.A. Salvatore)

Seryntas spun, sword at the ready, to face the spiders. The first one to come within his reach would taste his blade, he decided, gripping the hilt of the weapon with his gauntleted hands.

"Tell you what, Leto, I won't fight with you. Zeus' wives are pretty tough customers. You have my permission to boast openly that you have beaten the daylights out of me."-Hermes, the Iliad (Stanley Lombardo, translator) Book 21

Two of the four spiders rushed at Seryntas at once, the first one getting sliced down before it could reach him. The second one sprang at him upon getting close, opening its jaws to bite. The other two each hoisted up a piece of the broken wall to throw at him.

The warg rider also reached the hole at that point, but couldn't charge through at full speed for fear of getting knocked off her mount. Instead, she came to an abrupt stop at the other side of the hole, but used the last of the inertial force from the charge to thrust her lance at Seryntas.

Xiao Long's opponent, as usual, didn't expect the kick. The elf's foot, therefore, succeeded in striking the succubus' face, knocking her off balance.

Kilisha's enemy brought her sword down again, but Kilisha parried it once more. This sword wasn't the type of weapon Kilisha was proficient with, though. The weight and the balance were both unfamiliar to her. Uncertain that she could win with the weapon, she scrambled away from her opponent. Spotting a discarded bow on the floor some distance away, she ran for it.

"Crap!" Seryntas yelled, suddenly seeing himself mobbed. He flailed with his gauntleted hand at the spider trying to bite him while scrambling to deflect the lance away, the tip making a keening sound as it scraped a pit in his armor. The spiders and the bit of wall would have to wait until he could get his weapon back up and ready again; hopefully the piece they got to throw at him wouldn't be big enough to do more than slow him down.

"Tell you what, Leto, I won't fight with you. Zeus' wives are pretty tough customers. You have my permission to boast openly that you have beaten the daylights out of me."-Hermes, the Iliad (Stanley Lombardo, translator) Book 21

With the enemy right on her heels, Kilisha snatched the bow up as she reached it. Taking an arrow from her quiver, she pulled it back, spun, and fired just as the other succubus raised her sword to strike. The arrow drove straight into the succubus' heart, sending her lifelessly to the ground.

Xiao Long's opponent, still off balance, was skewered by the two swords. She dropped the two blades and slumped forward.

By that time, the gate was fully opened and orcs were pouring in. After scraping Seryntas' armor with its lance, the warg-riding demon turned its mount and rode away, back into the depths of the castle. The spiders continued their attack, though. The one climbing on Seryntas, though frustrated by his flailing hand, continued to look for a place to bite. The other two threw their pieces of the broken wall, each of which was about a foot and a half in diameter.

Xiao Long, her newest enemy dead, looked about her, quickly spotting the towering form of Seryntas being mobbed by spiders. She quickly rushed over, thinking to attack one of the spiders hurling the wall-chunk. She wouldn't be able to make it before they threw it, though. "Seryntas! Watch out!" she cried as she sprinted, hoping to warn the large armored man of the impending danger.